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Vauxhall Station
Vauxhall station is a National Rail, London Underground and London Buses interchange station in central London. It is at the Vauxhall Cross road junction opposite the southern approach to Vauxhall Bridge over the River Thames in the London district of Vauxhall. The station is on the boundary of zones 1 and 2 of the London Travelcard area and, although a through station, it is a central London railway terminus for ticketing purposes. The bus station, at ground level across the road from the rail station, has a photovoltaic roof supplying much of its electricity. It is the second busiest London bus station, after that at Victoria. History Opened by the London and South Western Railway (LSWR) as "Vauxhall Bridge Station" on 11 July 1848 when the main line was extended from Nine Elms to Waterloo, then "Waterloo Bridge Station". It is on a viaduct with eight platforms. The deep tube London Underground station is on the Victoria line, and opened on 23 July 1971. 'Milk trains' Vauxhall was located next to a major creamery and milk bottling plant for United Dairies. The regular daily milk train was from Torrington, but milk trains from all over the West Country would stop at Clapham Junction in the evening, and reduce their length by half so that they did not block Vauxhall station while unloading. They would then proceed to Vauxhall, and pull into the "down" side platform, where a discharge pipe was provided to the creamery on the other side of the road. There was also pedestrian access from below the station, under the road to the depot, in the tunnel where the pipeline ran. Unloaded trains would then proceed to Waterloo, where they would reverse and return to Clapham Junction to pick up the other half of the train. The procedure was then repeated, so that the entire milk train was unloaded between the end of evening peak traffic and the start of the following morning. Services There is a frequent service of trains to London Waterloo and to the suburbs of south-west London. Trains to and from the Richmond/Hounslow direction leave from platforms 3 & 4 and return on platform 2. Trains to and from the Wimbledon direction leave from platform 8 and return on platform 7. Few trains call at the inner platforms (5 & 6) whose tracks are used by long-distance and "fast" suburban trains. Platform 1 is not used in regular passenger service. 'National Rail' Vauxhall rail station is served by South West Trains to and from London Waterloo. The typical off-peak service in trains per hour is: *26 to London Waterloo *2 to Chessington South *2 to Dorking *2 to Guildford via Cobham *2 to Guildford via Epsom *2 to Hampton Court *2 on the Hounslow Loop Line via Hounslow and Richmond, returning to Waterloo *2 on the Hounslow Loop via Richmond and Hounslow, returning to Waterloo *2 on the Kingston Loop Line via Kingston and Richmond, returning to Waterloo *2 on the Kingston Loop via Richmond and Kingston, returning to Waterloo *2 to Shepperton *2 to Weybridge via Hounslow *2 to Windsor & Eton Riverside *2 to Woking 'Underground' Vauxhall underground station is between Pimlico and Stockwell with a peak time service interval of about two minutes.. 'Buses' The station is served by London Buses routes 2, 36 (24 hour service), 77, 87, 88 (24 hour service), 156, 185, 196, 344 (24 hour service), 360, 436 and Night Bus routes N2, N87, N136 . Accidents *On 29 August 1912, a light engine collided with a rake of nine carriages. One passenger was killed and 43 were injured. References #"Customer metrics: entries and exits". London Underground performance update. Transport for London. 2003-2010. Retrieved 8 May 2011. #"Station usage". Rail statistics. Office of Rail Regulation. 30 April 2010. Retrieved 17 January 2011. Please note: Some methodology may vary year on year. #"The Torrington Milk Train". SVS Films. 2012-01-21. #Brodrick, Nick. "LSWR "lavatory brake thrird"". Steam Railway (Bauer Media) (375, 30 April - 27 May 2010): p56. External links *Train times and station information for Vauxhall station from National Rail *Plan of the mainline station Category:Stations in Travelcard Zone 1 Category:Stations in Travelcard Zone 2 Category:Stations in Travelcard Zones 1 & 2 Category:Stations in two Travelcard Zones Category:Victoria Line Stations Category:Stations in the London Borough of Lambeth